Fashion brand FabAlley raises Series-A funding

MUMBAI: High street fashion brand FabAlley has raised Rs 13 crore ($2 million) in a Series-A round led by Mumbai-based India Quotient. The round also saw participation from existing investors including IAN, social entrepreneur Ranjan Sharma and a clutch of angel investors.

The online-to-offline brand, that claims to have reached profitability by September end, will be using the funds to expand its offline presence, enlarge its product category and spend on marketing and brand building. FabAlley that currently retails via Central — Future Group’s fashion chain — has about 25 live stores with Central and 45 more in the pipeline. "We will be wrapping up (expansion of our Central stores) by Jan 2017," Tanvi Malik, cofounder of FabAlley told ET.

The private label will be opening up more stores through tie-ups with Shoppers Stop, Pantaloons and Lifestyle and will also launch its own exclusive brand outlets over the next 18 months. Investors in the company, however, believe that despite an offline model that may be high on capital need, the FabAlley story has limited risk. "Eventually, to reach scale you have to be present everywhere; on your own website, marketplaces and offline stores. We believe that it will be much more capital-efficient than some of the pure offline stores or brands," said Madhukar Sinha, partner at India Quotient.

"We will be expanding to categories such as lingerie and fitness wear. We will also expand our accessories portfolio to include bags, shoes, fashion jewellery as well as grow our 2 sub brands — Curve & Indya," said Malik. Following the rising phenomenon of celebrity-driven brands in the online space, FabAlley is also in talks with celebrities to create co-branded collections as well as endorsements.

Malik added that the company is working with an Indian designer for a specialised capsule collection which will be launched in a month while the celebrity collection will go live in 6 months. While the company has an ambitious plan lined up for the brand, cofounder Shivani Poddar said there’s no plan to venture into a new line for men’s wear anytime soon either in the offline or online space.